Keynote Speaker: Eric Wallace

Jon Eric Wallace is the President and co-founder of Indian Peaks Brewing Company, parent company of Left Hand Brewing Company. Eric grew up around the world as the son of an Air Force officer, and was exposed to good beer at a precocious age in Germany. He graduated from the U.S. Air Force Academy in 1984 with a degree in international affairs, and spent 8 years in the Air Force as a communications officer in Italy and Turkey before moving back to the U.S. in 1993. Upon his return, he was inspired by the renaissance in craft brewing developing here in the U.S. and, along with co-founder Dick Doore, decided to jump headfirst into the craft beer business.

On the personal side, Eric has been married to his wife, Cinzia, since 1991 and has three beautiful children, Naomi, Noel and Nicolas. He’s an avid foodie (his business card says “Beer is Food”), loves good espresso, and seeks out the world-class and unusual beers that are being produced in this country and beyond. He is convinced that the US is the most interesting and creative craft brewing scene in the world today. Eric is an Eagle Scout from 1977 from the Trans-Atlantic Council when his father served in the Air Force. Please join us on March 15, 2017 to recognize Eric Wallace for all he does for Longmont, Boulder County and Colorado.

One of Eric’s focuses is giving back to the local community where he works, lives and plays. He serves on the Brewers Association Board of Directors as Vice Chair, Colorado Brewers Guild Board (now Chair for the second time), the Colorado Shakespeare Festival Advisory Board, the Longmont Economic Development Partnership Board and he is a member of Longmont Odd Fellows Lodge No. 29 and Skyline Kiwanis. Left Hand Brewing Company has been named both small and large Business of the Year by the Longmont Area Chamber of Commerce. In 2015, Left Hand generated over $687K in donations to many different non-profits through its various fundraising efforts.

Eric received the F.X. Matt Defense of the Industry Award at the Brewers Association’s annual Craft Brewers Conference in April 2009 for successfully leading the charge to preserve beer drinker choice and selection in defeating damaging legislation in Colorado as chair of the Colorado Brewers Guild Legislative Committee and for two years as president of the Guild. He was inducted into the Boulder County Business Hall of Fame in 2012. Eric received both the Tom Brock Award for business leadership in the Longmont community and was named an Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year in the Mountain Desert Region in 2014.

Left Hand Brewing was founded by Eric Wallace and Dick Doore on September 21, 1993, and has been crafting a well-balanced portfolio of award-winning beers that are now available in 36 states and 10 countries. We believe in balance in beers, that beer is food, and we won’t make a beer that we don’t drink.
We’ve been fortunate enough garner many accolades over the years:
• 9 medals at the World Beer Cup
• 27 medals at the Great American Beer Festival
• 9 European Beer Star Awards
• Sawtooth Ale: “Our #1 Bitter” – New York Times
• Milk Stout: “Malty, Roasty Goodness” – TIME Magazine
• Best Stout in America, Milk Stout – Draft Magazine
• Best Beer Ever Brewed, Oak Aged Imperial Stout – Modern Brewery Age
• Best and Most Drinkable Lager brewed in the US today: Polestar Pilsner – Beer Advocate

For more info, visit www.lefthandbrewing.com

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